


The Path to Being Hokage

by Ceeya (ceeya)



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Hokage!Shisui
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26035681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceeya/pseuds/Ceeya
Summary: Shisui meets young Sakura and they have a very confusing conversation, at least from Shisui's point of view.And it all snowballs from there.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Shisui
Comments: 46
Kudos: 325





	1. How to be a Better Ninja(TM)

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what I'm doing but this came out and apparently it's gonna be multi-chapter so welcome and enjoy the ride.

Shisui dragged his feet across the street, trying to make his way to the training grounds, his shoulders slouched with exhaustion. He just finished his first mission as a jonin and all he wanted was to go home. But he had promised his team that he’d meet them for a short training session. To be honest, he’s sure they’d knock him out within the first two minutes, but a promise is a promise.

When he got to the training area, his legs finally gave up on him as he sprawled on the ground, the cool breeze ruffling his hair. His teammates would probably take another hour so he could just sleep here and try to gain back some energy. He crossed an arm over his eyes to hide from the sun’s rays. It was good that it wasn’t that hot today, he didn’t think he could muster up any energy to get up and look for shade.

He tried to get some rest, but as usual, whenever he had any time to think, his thoughts always goes back to his clan and Konoha. The elders are getting bolder about their frustrations against the village, even little Itachi was starting to get roped into it. And then there was the Hokage and Danzo. As much as he respected his leader, he couldn’t understand why he kept listening to the councilman. Every time Danzo made a suggestion, it slowly became more and more obvious that his path on keeping the peace was heading to an extreme. Did the Hokage not see it? Was he simply overthinking it?

He didn’t understand why it was so _hard_ for people to think of the Uchiha as being part of the village. They’ve been a presence since the founding, why did this shift have to happen? Why did it have to involve him and his young cousin? Can’t the old geezers just talk it out amongst themselves?

He forced himself to stop and take a deep breath. He needed to relax before he worked himself up again.

“Are you okay, mister?” A tiny voice came out of the blue.

Shisui quickly sat up, wondering who managed to sneak up on him. Was he really that far into his thoughts that he didn’t sense anyone’s presence?

When he focused in front of him, he had to wipe his eyes a few times to confirm what he was seeing. It was the most colorful combination he’d ever seen on a person. And considering that he’s seen Gai running around in a green jumpsuit with _bright orange_ leg warmers while summoning a _sunset_ , that was saying something.

But this kid, probably not much older than Sasuke, was pink. Pink and green and red and yellow and blue. Really, it was a wonder why she even chose a navy blue shirt, considering she seemed to want to represent a rainbow wherever she went. Also, blue roses. He didn’t even know those existed.

“Mister?” She asked again, head tilting slightly, some strands of her pink hair falling to her face, which she tried to pull back using the hand that was not holding the blue flowers. 

“What?” He asked before recovering himself, “Yeah, I’m ok. Just sleeping.”

“Why are you sleeping on the grass? Don’t you have a bed at home? Mama said it’s bad to sleep outside. Are you a hom-les person?”

“A Hom? No, no, I’m not a homeless person. Look, kid. I was just tired okay so I decided to take a nap here.”

“Sakura.”

“Huh?”

“I’m Sakura,” Sakura gave a slow bow, nearly tripping over her own two feet as she tried to balance the bow with the flowers. Shisui couldn’t hold back the smile on his face. The kid was cute, he’d give her that.

“Okay, Sakura. My name’s Shisui. Why did you come here?”

“I wanna find some flowers to give to Ino-chan. She gave me flowers today and mama always said that I need to reci-repro-, that I need to give her gifts back!” Sakura struggled to find the correct word until she just rushed through the sentence. “And then I saw you crying, Shisui-san.”

“Crying?” Shisui brushed the back of his hand against his cheek, feeling for any tear tracks. His hand came back dry. “I wasn’t crying. And don’t add the -san, just Shisui is fine.”

“But your hand was on your face!” Sakura insisted, she frowned at him as though repoaching him for lying.

“I was just tired since I came back from a mission.” Shisui didn’t even know why he’s indulging this kid. Maybe if he answered her questions, she’d just go away and leave him in peace. “There’s no flowers in this training ground so you should probably just go home.”

“Mission? You’re a ninja, mister?” Sakura didn’t even hear his last sentence. She perked up at the word mission and latched on the idea of ninjas that she ignored every other word that came out of his mouth.

“Hm? Yeah, yeah I am. A ninja of Konohagakure. Woo.” Shisui raised his fist to the sky, but it was clear from his bland tone and the slow movement of his hand showed off how sarcastic he was being. After all, being a ninja brought him nothing but headaches, expectations from his clan and expectations from his village all competing to see who could get him to go insane first.

“You don’t like being a ninja?” Sakura’s face was shocked, as though anyone not liking being a ninja was a crime. “But they’re so cool!”

“I like it fine and it’s only cool if you’re not going on boring missions every time.” Shisui waved off her words, not wanting to go on a spiel about loyalty and duty and all that fun stuff. She is just a kid. A nosy one, but a kid nonetheless. He’ll leave the worldview destroying stuff to someone else.

“Maybe you’re just not a good one then. That’s why they gave you all the bad missions.” Sakura concluded. Only a bad ninja would think ninjas were not the coolest thing. 

“Hey! I’m a good ninja! I just got promoted! See!” Shisui pulled on the jonin vest as proof of his greatness. But Sakura didn’t look convinced. Shisui did say he went on _boring_ missions. Great ninjas went on exciting adventures, saving lives, and bringing pride to the village.

“Then maybe you’re just not good enough.” Sakura continued, ignoring Shisui spluttering at this little girl that was completely ignoring the fact that he was a _jonin_ , at _twelve_! “You should be better! Like a Hokage!”

Shisui stared at her, dumbfounded. He didn’t know which part of her speech to protest first. Her criticism of his skill, her thinking he wasn’t good enough, or her thinking he could be a Hokage. She looked so proud of herself too, as though she had given him the solution to life and he should be thanking her for it.

“Okay, kid. Just what do you think a Hokage is?” He reached up to ruffle his hair, settling for the one thing that would stop this entire conversation from becoming more of a pain in the ass.

“A strong ninja. One of the strongest. They protect the village.” Sakura recited with confidence.

“Well, you’re not wrong.” A little bit off base, especially thinking that anyone can be Hokage, but not completely wrong. She probably read it in a story book or something. “But being a Hokage is not that easy, you know.”

“I’m sure you can do it if you try, Shisui-san. Here!” Sakura proclaimed, one hand reaching out to give him one blue flower. Shisui grabbed it on reflex, unsure what this gift was supposed to symbolise.

“What’s this for?”

“Well, Ino-chan gave me a ribbon to be more brave and it worked. But I can’t give you this ribbon and I don’t have anything else so you can have this flower to help you become a Hokage.”

“Thanks?” And that was really all he could say. Do all kids think like this? He didn’t think even Itachi ever got him this confused. “And you should probably go on home or your parents would start getting worried.”

“You’re welcome, Shisui-san. I hope you can become a good ninja one day!”

Shisui lazily waved to the girl as he slowly saw her pink hair disappear from his sight. He looked at the blue flower on his hand, slightly twirling it around and seeing the specks of white in between the blue.

‘Hokage, huh.’ He leaned back on his elbows, staring up at the sky. There was a train of thought running through the back of his mind. It was crazy and his family might start thinking of having him be checked by a Yamanaka, but there _are_ possibilities. And if it could stop his family from fighting with his village, it would be worth it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those wondering about Sakura's color combinations, she's wearing her red ribbon, her navy blue shirt, and yellow shorts as seen in the anime. She's also holding onto a bouquet of blue roses. FROM INO!
> 
> Also, Shisui needs to be a better ninja, hahahahaha.


	2. Gift Giving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was supposed to be just a short shopping trip, but Shisui found that there's more to be learned outside the compounds of the Uchiha clan.

Shisui closed his eyes as he leaned against the entrance of an antique shop, waiting for Izumi to finish her shopping. Itachi had just made chuunin and Izumi had been aghast at his idea of a promotion gift. He didn’t see what was wrong with giving his cousin chakra weapons, they were practical and Itachi would probably appreciate it, though it was a bit on the expensive side. But Izumi shot down all of his reasons and dragged him off to the street markets, muttering about “stupid geniuses” (an oxymoron if he ever heard one), “probably never even shopped for a gift”,“this is what I have to deal with”, and, his personal favorite, “this is your family, Izumi, remember, you wanted this”. Having someone to commiserate with on the trials and tribulations of being an Uchiha was always a plus.

To be honest, he was surprised that Izumi even knew this area. Shisui lazily opened one eye to glance around at his surroundings. They passed through so many different districts before coming here and on the way over he saw fewer and fewer shinobi on the streets. Everyone in the immediate vicinity were civilians, some of them were giving him curious looks as they were walking around earlier. He didn’t even know there were civilian-only areas in Konoha, how did the Hokage ensure that the people here were protected if anything happens?

He tried looking at the roofs or the side streets discreetly, surely there would be shinobi in this area. The Uchiha Police ensures safety in all the citizens of Konoha, they wouldn’t ignore areas that were packed with people, especially civilian areas where they would need ninjas for protection if anything were to happen. As he was slowly coming to the realisation that, yes, there were actually places in Konoha that had virtually _zero_ shinobi (how did they manage that?), his eyes alighted on a moving fairy.

Wait, that wasn’t right. He squinted. It was that girl from last year, what was her name? Some sort of flower. Ah, yes, Sakura, for the hair. What was up with that girl and brightly colored outfits? She ditched the blue and yellow for a bright red flower-patterned yukata. He didn’t think there was a festival today that would merit the use of such clothes. In fact, she was the only one on the street wearing any sort of formal dress.

And she was going around handing candy to everyone. Was this a tradition or something? Everyone around her was just smiling and taking the offered candy, while some patted her head and replaced her candy with little wrapped gifts or dango. It was entertaining, he supposed, watching the child walk around in geta trying to balance eating dango, putting away her gifts, and giving candy.

He pushed himself off the shop wall when the girl got closer, shocking Sakura to stumble back a little bit, nearly falling before regaining her balance. As she stared up at him, Shisui knelt down to be eye level with the kid and watched as she stared at his forehead protector, then back at his eyes.

“Why did you stop in front of me, ninja-san?” She blinked up at him.

“You don’t remember me? I’m hurt.” Shisui faked his pain by grasping his shirt over his heart.

Sakura stared harder at him, her eyes narrowing as she tried remembering this ninja in front of her. Shisui wanted to laugh, the girl just looked even more ridiculous with a scrunched up face. He took pity on the girl and gave her a hint.

“You gave me the blue flower, remember?”

“Oh!” Her eyes shined with understanding. “You’re the bad ninja!”

The smile fell off his face in an instant. Of all the ridiculous things…

“My name is Shisui, brat. And I’m not a bad ninja.”

“Oh! You got better then! Are you a Hokage now? Did my flower help? Are you doing cool missions now?”

Shisui was now regretting even trying to interact with the girl when the barrage of questions were thrown at him. Luckily, he was saved from responding when a voice called for Sakura.

“Sakura-chan!”

Sakura turned while Shisui looked up at the speaker as a blond-haired woman, carrying a plastic bag full of wrapped gifts, came over to them, her green eyes focused on Sakura. Though the hair was different, the shape of her face and the color of her eyes gave away that she was at least related to Sakura.

“Mama!” Sakura held out both hands. “Look! I got lots of gifts back when I gave them candy!”

The woman smiled softly at her, love shining all over her face as she lifted the little girl into her arms. Shisui felt awed and a little jealous, if he was honest, when was the last time he’d seen even his family show that much care for him.

“I’m sorry if she was bothering you, shinobi-san. She doesn’t have the best self-control” The woman tried to bow at him, but Shisui raised his hand to stop her. He opened his mouth to reply, but little Sakura was faster.

“Mama, he’s the bad ninja I told you about!” Sakura exclaimed, pointing to him enthusiastically, her pouch of candy swinging and would have hit his face if he didn’t lean back.

“Sakura! You shouldn’t be rude.” The woman admonished, grabbing the girl’s outstretched hand and guiding it down. The woman turned to him and smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry for her actions. We do try, but she’s still learning. I’m Haruno Mebuki, by the way.”

“Uchiha Shisui.” He gave a small bow as he introduced himself, holding back a smile at the pout on Sakura’s face from the reprimand. He didn’t think she'd be able to keep quiet for long.

“Oh, an Uchiha! It’s quite rare to see you in these parts. Shinobi don’t usually come to this area.”

“There are no patrols here? Who keeps the peace then?” Shisui asked, straightening up. Maybe he’d finally get a conclusion to all his questions. It seemed negligent of Konoha to have entire districts not being patrolled and/or protected.

Mebuki balanced Sakura as she glanced up thinking. “Hmm… We don’t really see any shinobi here so I don’t think anyone checks this area. And everyone knows everyone else here so there isn’t really much crime or nuisance to monitor. I’ve seen them sometimes go to the orphanage to pick up children who want to go to the academy. But that’s already far out of this district and closer to the Uzumaki area.”

“Shisui, I found it. Let’s go.” Shisui was about to ask additional questions when Izumi exited the shop, her hands holding a bag full of stuff. Did she buy half the store? They only needed one gift!

“Ara! Izumi-chan!” Mebuki exclaimed, grabbing all of their attention, “That’s you, isn’t it? I haven’t seen you in a while. My, you’ve grown so tall!”

Izumi looked a bit confused before she finally recognized the woman in front of her.

“Haruno-san,” She bowed politely, “It’s been a while.”

“You don’t need to be so polite, Izumi-chan. Mebuki-san is fine. How have you been? Is your mother doing well?”

“Yes, the Uchiha have been treating us very well.” Izumi responded. However, it seemed that only Shisui caught the biting undertone in her voice.

“That’s good, then. Family should always be there to support one another. We were so worried about you and your mother after what happened, everyone will be relieved to know that you’re getting along well with your relatives. But really, you should come visit us more often. You know everyone here would love to have tea with you and your mother from time to time.”

As Izumi continued catching up with Mebuki and they started moving down the narrow street, Shisui didn’t know what to think. All he was told growing up was that there was a rift between the Uchiha and the rest of Konoha. And here was a civilian who told Izumi that there was an entire community within Konoha that was not only worried about her and her mother, but that they had an open invitation to come over any time. 

“Are you a ninja too, miss?” And there it seemed that Sakura reached the end of her patience, inserting herself into the conversation with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Why was this girl so obsessed with ninjas when there’s none around here?

“Sakura! You shouldn’t interrupt other people’s conversations. Sorry, Izumi-chan, Sakura’s been spending a lot of time at the park near the Academy since Kizashi was contracted to work on the housing estate nearby. She’s made a few friends with a few kids that came from shinobi backgrounds and that’s all she could talk about now.”

“It’s not a problem, Mebuki-san. And Sakura-chan, was it?” Izumi smiled gently, addressing the little girl. “You want to know about ninjas?”

“Yeah! Ino-chan and I play ninja at the park and she said that when we grow up, we can go to ninja school and become a Hokage!”

“A Hokage?” Izumi repeated. Shisui could almost see question marks all over her face. He was so glad that finally, someone else was the target of this girl’s brand of crazy.

“Mhm!” Sakura nodded enthusiastically, her body shaking in excitement, “They said if we become strong ninjas, we can be Hokage and have our face on the mountain! And then we can go where we want and have so much fun together and…”

“Okay, that’s enough, Sakura. I think they get it.” Mebuki rocked her arms gently to stop her daughter’s flood of words. Shisui had never seen any child in the clan ever be treated so indulgently after boldly interrupting other people. He’d _seen_ Sasuke be reprimanded for bringing up topics deemed unfit for the Uchiha.

“I’m still studying to be a ninja, Sakura. I’ll probably be one by next year.” Izumi answered with a small sad smile, tucking her brown hair behind her ear. But then she pointed at him, “If you want to know about ninjas, you should talk to Shisui here. He’s one of the best.”

Yes, one of the benefits of being a genius was that his ego does get stroked from time to time.

“Shisui-san? But he’s a bad ninja! He goes on _boring_ missions!” Will the kid ever let that go?!

Izumi stifled her laughter as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Great, this was going to spread all over the clan by dinner time.

“ _AND,_ on that final note,” Mebuki stopped her daughter, “This is where we part. It was nice meeting you, Shisui-san. We still live in the same place, Izumi. Drop by soon. Bring your mother and your friends as well. You know you’re always welcome. Now, Sakura-chan, say goodbye.”

Sakura waved but then stopped and started digging into the small pouch. She pulled out two candies and handed them over to Izumi and Shisui.

“Oh! It’s your birthday, Sakura-chan?” Izumi looked a bit nostalgic when she took the candy from Sakura. She nudged at Shisui to grab the candy before rummaging into her shopping bag, grabbing a tiny stuffed cat. “Here you go, Sakura. Happy Birthday. Sorry it’s not wrapped.”

“A KITTY! THANK YOU!” Sakura grabbed the toy with both hands and hugged it.

When Izumi side-eyed him expectantly, Shisui could feel the back of his neck start to sweat. It was the kid’s birthday? And he needed to give a gift? Shit. He should have just offered to carry Izumi’s shopping bags so he could pick a random stuff to give. Shisui dug into his kunai pouch, looking for something that could be a gift for a child.

“Here you go.” He pulled out a chakra paper and tried to offer it to Sakura. But both the girl and her mother looked uncertain about receiving a blank piece of paper as a gift. “It’s chakra paper. You can’t use it now, but if you really become a ninja, you can use it to find out what element you have. It will help you when you want to learn jutsus.“

Mebuki continued to look concerned, but Sakura, as expected when hearing it was a toy for ninjas, beamed and quickly traded her candy for the chakra paper.

“Thank you, Shisi-san!” Tripping over his name as she was speaking far too fast.

“Don’t worry, Mebuki-san.” Izumi placated the concerned mother, “Chakra paper is not harmful. Without channeling chakra into it, it’s just like any other piece of paper.”

That explanation at least allowed Mebuki to relax. She and her daughter then bid the two shinobi farewell, while Izumi and Shisui made their way back to the Uchiha compound.

“How did you know it was her birthday?”

“It’s a civilian tradition. Whenever someone has a birthday, it’s considered rude to announce to every single person that it’s their birthday because it sounds like you’re asking for a gift. So what they do is that they usually dress up their children and give them bags of candy to distribute, both as a way to share the blessing of another year lived and as a subtle way to imply that it’s their birthday. It’s a fun activity for kids because they can never know what they’ll get.”

“Hmm…” Shisui placed his hands behind his head as he contemplated, one of his hands still holding the candy. “And the Hokage thing? Do you know why she keeps insisting for me to be Hokage?”

“She looks like she’s 5, Shisui. She probably thinks that a Hokage is just another word for a very strong ninja.”

Looking at Izumi from the corner of his eye, he wondered. Izumi came to the Uchiha after her father died, but he’d never seen her as relaxed as when they were in the civilian district and he could clearly hear the nostalgia in her voice when she spoke about civilian traditions. He knew she grew up outside of the clan, but he always assumed it was with all the other non-clan shinobi. 

“Say, Izumi.” He stopped in his tracks and waited for her to turn and face him. “If you want to visit that area again, with Hazuki-obasan, just tell me or Itachi. We’ll come with you and keep it from the family.”

Izumi’s eyes widened in surprise, and he got nervous when it seemed like she would start crying. But she wiped her eyes and smiled at him. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone smile at him so gratefully before.

“Thank you, Shisui.”


	3. What is Konoha?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting little Sakura didn't really change Shisui's life all that much. But maybe there's more to Konoha than the shinobi he spent his entire life with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of Shisui's thoughts on this chapter. He's a lot more melancholic than usual, but I find his more serious characterisation, especially when under stress between the clan and Konoha, interesting.

Shisui stretched his arms as he let out a yawn, walking along Konoha’s main street. It was just after noon and all he wanted to do was to go home and take a nap. He really shouldn’t have taken that last stick of dango. It just settled on his stomach and made him feel so _heavy_.

It was nice to have lunch with his old team from time to time, even though there was always this air of melancholy when they accidentally remembered Masato with a throwaway line or a glance at the empty chair beside him. It’s already been 6 years, how much longer would he have to live with the regret of not reaching out to save his best friend?

He was walking past the academy when he thought of his last visit to the pink haired menace that wouldn’t leave alone. For some reason, he found himself frequenting the civilian district whenever he was in the village. 

It initially started just by escorting Izumi and Hazuki-obasan to visit their old friends that live near the food market, where everyone they seemed to know was a master chef. He’d been stuffed full with noodles, donburi, sushi, and desserts every time he went with them. And they never let him pay! They kept waving it off with “It’s on the house!”, “No way am I letting a guest pay.”, “It’s thanks for bringing Izumi-chan and her mom to come visit.”, and “You’re still a child! Don’t worry about it! Just eat as much as you want!”

It was quite jarring, how differently they treated him compared to the Uchiha and even the other shinobi in the village. He nearly cut off Sumire-san’s hand when she reached out to ruffle his hair. Eventually, he learned to relax the moment he neared the district, the feeling of calm washing over him when he sees them going about their day and some stopping to greet him here and there. Before he knew it, he found himself going to that district almost weekly whenever he wasn’t on a mission.

Out of all of them, the Haruno house was probably his favorite place to visit. They lived slightly off the market area so they were able to get a house with a small garden where Mebuki-san could grow her plants and herbs and the area was quiet enough that the cheerful and often boisterous sounds from the market were not as prevalent.

They didn’t have a big house, nothing compared to the sprawling estates of the Uchiha or the Hyuuga. Their house was probably less than half the size of the house he lived in. What drew him to them was the stark contrast between entering their home versus going back to his house.

When his parents were still alive, going back home always felt stifling. He loved his extended family but they had expectations of him to act a certain way and be an example to both the younger Uchiha and the older Uchiha that haven’t attained jonin status. Even with the shinobi in the village, he was looked at with both envy and admiration and sometimes he just wanted to disappear.

However, when he entered the Haruno house, they just looked at him as himself. There was no need to be a great shinobi, no need to represent the Uchiha. He was free to laugh at Kizashi-san’s awful jokes, listen to Mebuki-san as she regaled him with all the antics of the townsfolk, and indulge Sakura in her little ninja games, which had gotten a lot better after she stopped calling him “Bad Ninja” and started using his actual name or whichever nickname she came up with that day. 

_“Shishi, you’re here! Teach me to move fast!” Sakura ran towards him, braking before her sock-clad feet left the genkan._

_“Sakura! Let him enter the house first before you start bothering him. Come in, Shisui-kun. We have some biscuits that Amaya-chan made.”_

_“Thank you, Haruno-san. Isn’t Amaya-san 10, though?”_

_“Yes! And apparently she loves to bake. Her mother came over gushing over her baby’s talent. I think she gave out every single batch that her daughter made.”_

_“Amaya-oneesan makes the best cookies, Shishi! She made me a sakura one when I went to play with her. Can we play with your ninja knives today?”_

Shisui had to be careful not to bring any of his sharpened weapons when he stopped over after that disastrous event where her parents had to talk to him about appropriate toys for kids. Because, somehow, Sakura would get her hands on his holster. Civilian children were so _fragile_. Itachi had been handling live weapons when he was 5.

Shisui didn’t notice it, but his demeanor started lightening at the thought of his visits to the Haruno family.

“Ah! Is that you, Shisui?!” A boisterous voice called out.

He turned to look and saw Haruno Kizashi, waving at him. He seemed to be in the middle of work, his other hand just putting down his hammer. Some of his coworkers had stopped and looked over at his shout.

“Good afternoon, Haruno-san.” Shisui jogged over and gave a shallow bow.

“Come on, Shisui. I told you, Kizashi is fine.” 

“Hey, Kizashi. Who’s your friend?” A few of Kizashi’s co-workers came over, curious to meet the new kid. Kizashi was known for chatting with people from all walks of life, though he rarely interacted with shinobi.

“This is Shisui, Mebuki and I roped him into babysitting Sakura from time to time.” Shisui gave a smile and a polite bow at the introduction. He didn’t realise he suddenly became Sakura’s de-facto babysitter.

“Is it? Are you offering babysitting services to other people, too? I’d love to have someone watch the twins so my wife and I can have some alone time for once.”

“Hey now, no stealing our babysitter. It’s hard enough to get someone who can keep up with my hyperactive daughter.”

“Your daughter’s an angel, Haruno! If you want to talk about tiny terrors, you should see Usui. He’d run circles around you for breakfast. And besides, your boy’s a ninja, I’m sure he can watch more than one kid at a time.”

The men went off on a tangent chatting about their children, simple innocuous things that don’t really mean much to Shisui, but he found himself wanting to stay in this tiny bubble.

“Haruno! Akami! Come over here and help me to balance this beam here. This is the last one! Once we finish this, we can all go home.”

Kizashi and his friend looked over to their boss calling for them, pointing to the large wooden frame that would be used to stabilise the roof.

“Sure! Give me a minute.” Kizashi turned to Shisui, “Sorry for calling you over and wasting your time. I was just planning on giving you this. Sakura’s on crafting binge and demanded that I give you this charm to apparently _‘Help Shishi be a better ninja faster so he can be Hokage’_.”

  
Shisui held out his hand to receive the gift. It was an omamori, clumsily made. The charm black with little pink blots on what was probably supposed to be flowers on it. He had to draw it closer to read the uneven character stitchings. Written in front was “Hokage” with his name on the back. He was surprised that the girl even chose black for the charm, considering her loud (and unnecessary) criticism of his fashion choices.

_“Shishi, why do you always wear black? Does your mom only buy you black? Here, you can have my yellow ribbon.”_

_“I wear black because I don’t want to be noticed. Wearing bright colors makes you stand out and be a target.”_

_“But if you wear black, then you can only hide at night because trees are green and brown when the sun is up. Shika-kun has black hair and it’s so easy to find him when we play hide ‘n seek. Is that why you’re not Hokage, Shishi? Because you can’t hide wearing black?”_

He carefully placed the omamori in his holster and addressed Kizashi, insisting they allow him to help the team in setting up the beam. He wasn’t really that much of an altruistic guy, he just didn’t want to go home. He wondered what it said about him that he enjoyed spending time with civilians more than with his own family.

It really wasn’t hard work. All he had to do was make a few clones and follow the instructions the different workers asked him to do. Any genin could do this task. When he mentioned that to the team, the boss seemed to get an interesting glint in his eye.

“Hiring genin for manual labor, huh?” was the only thing the boss mentioned, stroking his grey beard. “If they’re anything like you boy, they’d be worth their weight in gold.”

Shisui’s been praised by many people his entire life. He became genin at 6, unlocked his magenkyou at 7, used the shunshin to be one of the fastest shinobi in Konoha, and successfully completed more missions than he could count. None of those had made him feel the rush of warmth running through his body at the comment that this old man had given him. Was this what Sasuke felt like whenever his father praised him? If so, then he understood why Sasuke kept trying so hard.

After all the work was done and the other workers had left, Kizashi had dragged him to have a late lunch, basically forcing him to be treated for his help. They were walking towards the famous ramen shop that most shinobi frequent, so Shisui mentally braced himself for the greetings and questioning stares. But Kizashi just sent a wave to the owner and his daughter, turned at the corner, and continued down the side streets.

Just as he was about to ask where they were headed, they stopped in front of a small shoji door. There was no signage anywhere that pointed to this being a restaurant. On opening the door, the steam from within wafted him with the wonderful smell of frying batter along with the sizzling sound of the oil.

“Tezuka here makes the best tempura in Konoha! They’ve been here since the founding and their recipe is unchanged. ‘There’s no need to change perfection.’ was the motto of his grandfather.” Kizashi laughed. “I’ll go order while you can go pick a seat.”

Shisui glanced around and took the seat at the back corner, making sure that his back was to the wall so he had a clear view of the restaurant. He watched Kizashi joking with the chef, curious about how he was not aware of the existence of such a long-established eatery.

“Don’t worry, Shisui, most ninja’s don’t come here.” Kizashi came over, put two glasses of jasmine tea on the table, then pulled up his chair to sit across him. “I’ve been coming here since I was a boy and they don’t usually frequent this area.”

“Even though it’s so close to the main street?”

“You ninja tend to congregate together and all the stores you frequent are often opened close to one another. If you walk two streets out of main, the amount of ninja goes down to a third. The most we probably see are some Uchiha police officers on patrol and even they have areas they don’t ever get to. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Shisui paused, his hand gently placing the teacup down as he gave the older man his full attention.

“I uhh….” Kizashi scratched his head as he tried to look for the words to say, “Listen, I’m not good at this, but I can’t just leave it unsaid. Mebuki noticed that you’re not exactly fond of discussing your ninja skills or your family. But you still took the time to play with Sakura, acquiesce to her demands, and answer all her questions patiently. So I wanted to thank you for it. Also, I don’t really know much about your clan, but if you need anything, anything at all, our door is always open.”

During the time Kizashi was talking, Shisui was slowly getting nervous. He didn’t realise that he was becoming so obvious in his frustration with the clan and the village. However, he was stopped from having to answer when their food arrived. The moment the server left, they were again interrupted by a shout outside the store.

“Tezuka-san! I’ll have my regular!”

Of all people, Shiranui Genma entered the small store and waved hello to the man behind the counter. 

“Genma! It’s been a while!” Kizashi had turned around on his seat to call out to the tokubetsu jonin. Did Sakura’s dad know _everyone_ in Konoha?

“Kizashi? Hey! It’s been a while. You’re with another kid?” Genma laughed, coming over and clapping a hand on his friend’s back. “You keep feeding the kids and you’ll be running an academy before you know it.”

How did that man keep that senbon in his mouth while laughing?

“I think the Uchiha will come after me if I take one of their own, Genma-san.” came Kizashi’s dry reply.

Shisui just stared at the food, not making a comment, though inwardly he thought about how nice it would be to live with that family, where he’s treated like just another kid and not a symbol of the clan.

“Uchiha?” Genma peered closer to place his face, “Shisui! I didn’t realise you two knew each other.”

“Good afternoon, Shiranui-san.” Shisui greeted, plastering his patented smile on his face. “I met Haruno-san when Izumi and I were shopping for Itachi’s gift.”

“And then Sakura-chan took a liking to him. She’s never letting him go.” 

“You’ve got to stop spoiling your kid, Kizashi. She’ll grow up to be a holy terror.”

_‘She already is.’_ Shisui was smart enough to keep his mouth shut and just watch the two adults banter, occasionally adding his thoughts if he was prompted to. Kizashi invited Genma to join them at the table and the two continued talking as though they were old friends, trying to see who would come up with the lamest joke. He hadn’t laughed this much in a long time. 

All too soon, they all finished their meal and went on their way. On their arrival to the main street, Kizashi left them as he lived on the opposite side of Konoha. 

“I didn’t realise Kizashi managed to finagle you to watch his daughter.”

“He didn’t. As he said, Sakura found me and things snowballed from there. How did you two know each other?” 

“Hmm…? Oh, he frequents the tempura place and I grew up nearby.”

Genma didn’t continue and Shisui didn’t try to coax any more information from him. Shinobi were notoriously secretive and especially territorial about their personal information. The silence was so awkward as the two were apparently going in the same direction. 

“Hey, kid.” He turned to face the tokubetsu jonin. He was used to being called a kid by the civilians, but it somehow grated when it came to Shiranui. Shiranui may be a tokubetsu jonin, but they’re technically on the same rank.

“Hn?”

“I heard from the grapevine that you’re terrifying with the Shunshin.”

“I’m acceptable.”

“How do you think that holds up to the Hiraishin?” 

“The Yondaime’s Hiraishin is instant teleportation. Of course it would be faster than the Shunshin.”

“I don’t mean the Yondaime’s Hiraishin. I meant the Hiraishin in general. If I were to throw a kunai with the seal and use the Hiraishin, do you think you can get to the same direction faster with the Shunshin?”

“You can use the Hiraishin?” As much as shinobi were secretive, they were also terrible gossips. If someone managed to replicate the Yondaime’s signature jutsu, that information should have spread a long time ago.  
  


“Not as well as the previous Hokage, but yeah. What do you say? Are you willing to test it?”

He should have said no. He could have given any number of excuses. He knew spending more time with people outside the clan would make the Uchihas more suspicious of him. He already had cousins asking where he’s been spending his time whenever he took off to the Harunos. But the challenge of pitting his own skill against the legendary Hiraishin was so tempting along with the chance of unlocking its secrets was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So Shisui readily gave his agreement.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to [whiteblossom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteblossom/pseuds/whiteblossom) for the idea of Sakura criticising Shisui's all black wardrobe
> 
> The omamori that Sakura gave Shisui looks a bit like the photo below. But less refined.


	4. Ripples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shisui is suddenly faced with the consequences of not keeping his mouth shut.

“It’s been so long since you joined us for dinner, Shisui. I hope you haven’t been overworking yourself.” Mikoto entered the dining room carrying three different dishes, prompting Shisui and Itachi to stand up and assist her.

“No, Mikoto-obasan. I’ve just been training. I’m trying something new so it’s been taking so much of my time.” He responded as he placed the steamed fish dish on the center of the table. Itachi did the same with the two vegetable dishes while Mikoto busied herself with serving rice from the rice cooker.

He wasn’t really lying, per se. Working on making the Shunshin so that it can compete with the Hiraishin _was_ taking a lot of his training time, especially since Shiranui-san ( _Call me Genma, kid. I’m not that much older than you!_ ) brought along Namiashi-san during their practice sessions. He’d manage to match the displacement speed with teleportation, but having to mentally calculate the distance and velocity of a moving weapon meant that he was always just a little bit out of reach by the time his shunshin executed. Maybe he could -

“Shisui!” Shisui jumped a little in his seat as his aunt almost shouted his name, causing Sasuke to laugh at him and Itachi to hide a small smile into his rice bowl. 

“Sorry, oba-san, the technique has been plaguing me for a while.”

“It’s fine. But eat first before the food gets cold.”

At his sheepish nod, Mikoto turned back to her youngest to try and get him to eat something other than the tomato egg dish that he kept piling on his rice. Just then, they could hear the front door open and the sound of footsteps came closer to the dining room. Fugaku-sama must have had a rough day considering how much he was dragging his footsteps.

“Otou-san!” Sasuke jumps up and runs to greet his father, disregarding his mother’s and brother’s rebuke. Fugaku ruffled his hair and guided him back to his seat, walking past afterwards to sit at the head of the table, heaving a sigh as he rested his forehead on his hands.

Shisui and Itachi glanced at each other in concern. The clan head always had lots of things on his plate but he very rarely showed any of it in his demeanor, taking his role as leader seriously. Far too seriously in Shisui’s opinion.

“What happened, anata?” Mikoto cautiously asked, placing a bowl of rice along with a cup of tea in front of her husband.

“The Hokage wanted some of the staff in the Uchiha police force to be released and assist in taking on village-wide missions.”

“Oh? Why is that? I thought Hokage-sama wanted us to have more people _in_ the police force.”

“That was the case four weeks ago. Have you heard of Matsuda Hitoshi?” Fugaku took a sip of his tea, finally relaxing a little.

“Matsuda? That famous architect?”

“No, that’s his son, Satoshi. Matsuda Hitoshi is a builder, not as famous as his son, but his name is also quite well known across the continent for the quality of his work. The fact that he never dabbles in village politics only makes him more renowned as he will never divulge any architectural blueprints he’s made for his clients.”

“Ah! I remember. Matsuda’s the company that was building the apartment complex across the academy. The one that was recently finished, earlier than expected I believe.”

“Yes. Apparently, a shinobi had offered to help them with some manual labour and Matsuda was quite impressed.” Fugaku didn’t really look like he agreed so Itachi hesitantly joined the conversation, while Shisui was quietly having an epiphany. Could Matsuda-san be the old man he assisted those few months back?

“Isn’t that a good _thing, Otou-sama?_ It wouldn’t do for the citizens to think badly of us.” 

Fugaku took a deep breath and massaged his forehead before responding.

“It _was_ a good thing. Until his son got the commission from the daimyo to build a summer palace. Then Matsuda got the idea of hiring genin teams to assist with the building.”

“Hmm...they couldn’t hire enough civilians to assist in building the palace?” Mikoto mused, gently shushing Sasuke as he tried to catch his father’s attention and derail the conversation.

“Apparently not. According to him, fewer and fewer civilians are taking manual labor jobs once they’ve had the chance to explore more niche specialisations since we’re no longer at war. Being able to hire shinobi teams was, in his terms, ‘godsend’. If only he didn’t request for 10 genin teams for 5 full months.”

10 genin teams for 5 months! That was unheard of, most missions outside of Konoha usually take a month tops, barring long term missions that require reconnaissance and those were usually handled with a small team of no more than 4. His aunt echoed his thoughts and suggested to see if any alternative can be found, considering that a small group of chunin or jonin could finish any genin tasks faster.

“We did bring it up but apparently his son was the artistic sort and didn’t have any designs or blueprints of the new palace. He wanted to see the location and be _inspired_ by the scenery. From his tone, we may have to expect that the teams will have to do and redo any of his requests until he’s satisfied. Price was also not an issue. For some reason, he’s willing to pay us the equivalent of 10 jonin teams for the request.”

“Oh dear. We’re not in a position to decline, then. If we don’t want that request going to other villages.”

“Exactly. So I’ll need to adjust the force roster to be able to plan around being 4 teams less for the next 5 months. Hokage-sama is even considering sending some of the greener chunin to fill the numbers. I’m sure the elders will all be raising their concerns once this announcement is made at the next meeting, especially since we just did an update to the rotations.”

Shisui just stayed silent during the entire conversation, hoping that his uncle never found out that it was him that gave Matsuda the idea of hiring genin teams. Fugaku looked ready to set fire to whoever caused him this headache.

“Also, Itachi, Shisui. This will be a good opportunity for you two to experience working with the missions office, especially you Itachi. The next time I meet with the Hokage, both of you will join me unless you’re out on official missions.”

Itachi nodded while Shisui hesitantly gave his agreement, already thinking of who he could beg for a mission. He really, _really_ didn’t want to be present and be recognised on the off-chance the builder was there.

Thankfully, after that one discussion, they moved on to more tame topics like Itachi’s recent mission load, the recent complaints of the clan elders, and even Sasuke’s upcoming enrolment at the academy. 

* * *

The next day, Shisui met Itachi at the Uchiha training grounds for their usual sparring session. They hadn't been meeting up much ever since Itachi joined ANBU, considering _Team Ro_ ’s training and mission schedules, Shisui’s ever increasing time spent practicing with Shiranui and Namaiashi, his roster in the force, and his visits to the different districts in Konoha with Izumi and/or the Haruno.

They formed the seal of confrontation and then waited. When it seemed that his cousin wouldn’t be moving until he did, Shisui activated his sharingan and disappeared. Itachi activated his dojutsu as well and glanced around the field, his right hand quickly pulling out a kunai in defense.

He felt a slight gust of wind on his left and turned, just in time for his kunai to screech as it grazed against the sword that Shisui had pulled out. While the sword was blocked, his left aimed a punch at Shisui’s stomach but the older boy disappeared again, only for two clones to appear and attack him.

Itachi used shunshin to get out of the way and sent two waves of shuriken and multiple kunai as a follow up all while activating a light illusion that cloned and blurred some of the weapons. As he expected, the clones deflected some of the spinning blades, which started a chain effect against the kunai. With the combined bombardment of redirecting weapons and the illusion, he managed to get rid of one of the clones while the other clone was successful in avoiding all the projectiles.

A whistle echoed through the air, carrying with it Shisui’s impressed tone. But he wasn’t able to pinpoint the correct direction. The area must have also been layered with aural illusions to echo his voice.

The second clone immediately appeared behind him, trying to hit a pressure point behind his neck. He dodged the blow and engaged the clone in hand to hand combat. As he blocked the attacks with his arms, Itachi went through the boar, horse, and tiger seal for the katon, alternating the single hand seals between each hand. When the clone tried to aim for his neck, he spit out the fireball and quickly jumped back to avoid being caught in the flames, the poof of smoke heard signifying the disappearance of the clone.

Just as he was getting his bearings, Shisui materialised in front of him and pitched his tanto straight at him. He bent backwards to avoid the incoming blade and braced himself for an incoming taijutsu move, but was surprised when his sharingan predicted a move from behind. Shisui used shunshin to appear behind him, grab the thrown sword’s hilt, and tried to pull it back for a strike. It was obvious that the move was unpracticed because he wasn’t able to smoothly change the sword’s direction from a forward trajectory to a side-swing, which allowed Itachi to gain the upper hand, ducking and pulling out his own tanto to deliver a gash on his cousin’s left side.

Shisui tried to jump back but Itachi chased after him, not letting his opponent have the time to breathe. The next few minutes were a blend of taijutsu blows and attempted swipes from the small sword, with Shisui losing ground as he was favoring his right side now. However, he managed to increase the distance between them by a well placed water cyclone jutsu.

The two opponents stood across from one another, eyeing each other warily. Itachi tensed as Shisui raised his sword arm then the two opponents continued their spar for the next hour.

“You used the shunshin differently today.” Itachi commented after they formed the seal of reconciliation, breathing heavily from the exercise, gratefully accepting the water canteen his cousin offered.

“Yeah, I was testing something. Shiranui gave me the idea on how to improve the shunshin for combat.” Shisui leaned against one of the boulders that surrounded the area, idly playing with his kunai.

“To use the shunshin and imitate the Hiraishin?”

“Well yes. It will never be as fast, but considering that no one knows the exact sealing used by the Yondaime, this is as close as I can get.”

“Wouldn’t Shiranui-san have a copy of the seal?”

“I actually already have a copy of his version, the sharingan is quite useful in that regard. But apparently it wasn’t the same as the Yondaime’s seal, which is why it doesn’t work the same way. I don’t know enough about seals to really play around with it to improve it.”

“Can I have a look?”

Shisui pulled out a notebook from his holster and pulled out the stray paper that had the copy of the hiraishin seal. He explained his discoveries from training with Genma: the seal has a distance limit of around 30 feet for instant teleportation, but any more than that, it seemed to need more chakra and take more time to move from one place to the other.

The moment he finished, he looked at Itachi and saw him deep in thought staring at the seal. He was muttering something but Shisui only heard bits and pieces about releases, chakra, and combinations. Shisui couldn’t help but smile fondly at his cousin. Always such a bookworm. He’d probably go straight to the clan library after this and devour every single book they have about sealing techniques. He was glad that Itachi hadn’t lost his inherent interest in puzzles, a throwback to when they were younger and you could never pry the clan heir out from his books whenever he was given a brain teaser to work on.

“What about you? I saw you do hand switching seals. When did you learn that?” Shisui pulled back the seal drawing and tried to get Itachi into talking about his ANBU training.

“I saw Hatake-sempai do it on a mission once and it seemed quite useful so I practiced in between missions.” Itachi answered absently, his onyx eyes still trailing the paper Shisui held.

Shisui decided to just give up the paper before his cousin decided to tackle him for the puzzle. Knowing Itachi, he’d probably reverse-engineer the seal _and_ improve it within the year if he didn’t have missions.

“By the way, Mother’s been making comments about you not being around as much anymore. Father’s taken notice.” Itachi started as he used his sharingan to memorize the seal and pocket the paper into his holster.

“And so they told you to ask me?”

“Not really. I thought you would want to know that some people in the clan have noticed as well. Also, they’ve been asking questions about Hizuka-obasan and Izumi. A lot of clansmen noticed that you and Izumi have been spending quite a lot of time lately.”

“Are you jealous, Itachi?” Shisui teased, chuckling at the startled look and then blush that came over his cousin’s face. “You know, if you wanted to find out where we’re going, you could have asked her.”

“I did. She told me it was your secret to tell.” Was that a _pout_ on his face? He didn’t even realise Izumi and Itachi were that close.

_“You’ve been to the Haruno household more times than me, Shisui. At this point, this is more your secret than mine.”_ He was reminded of the comment that Izumi had made when he asked her why she never told anyone else.

“Well, I found a little demon and now it won’t leave me alone. It requires weekly feeding and play time or else it will wreak havoc all over the village.” Technically not a lie. He’d been amazed at how much chaos little children could bring.

Itachi just looked at him with unimpressed eyes.

“One day, Itachi. I’ll tell you. But not now.” For now, he wanted to be selfish, to keep this little section of home to himself.

The younger Uchiha stared back suspiciously but decided to let it go. After all, Shisui was more liable to invent an outrageous lie than tell the truth when pressed.

* * *

“Shisui! You’re here!” He was removing his shoes and had to brace himself as he was tackled from behind, Sakura clinging onto his back like a barnacle. His exaggerated gasp turned into a painful flinch when her knee dug onto his side, aggravating his still healing wound. With the force of her jump, a ripping sound echoed through the living room as her foot snagged against the cut Itachi made and tore his shirt even more.

“Sakura!” Mebuki rebuked, rushing over when she heard the noise. “This is why I keep telling you to be more careful. Apologize to Shisui.” She lifted her daughter from his back and placed her on the floor, facing him.

Sakura stared in consternation at his ripped shirt and the gash on his side, then ducking her head and mumbled her apologies, her sock-clad feet shuffling in nervousness. Shisui just grinned and ruffled her hair, telling her it was fine while she squawked at his actions.

Mebuki smiled exasperatedly at the two children and then marched them into the living room, strong-arming Shisui to give her the shirt to fix while he spent time with Sakura. He was given one of Kizashi’s older work shirts temporarily. It looked ridiculous on him, since Sakura’s father was broader and taller so the shirt just made him look like a teenager playing dress up, but it was better to acquiescence to Haruno-san than to argue. He’d already lost countless conversations before.

He spent most of the afternoon trying to teach Sakura on how to replicate his sleight of hand with coloured toy coins, but her coordination needed a lot of work, so does her temper. He couldn't count how many times she got frustrated and threw the coins all over the place. And then bullishly picking them up and trying again. At least she was persistent. It also good entertainment for him, watching her facial expressions.

She finally managed to make one blue coin disappear and was so ecstatic that he didn't even feel like teasing her on the fact that she did it so slowly. When she was done playing, she gave him the toy and told him to keep it because it had to be a lucky coin.

“Shisui, can you teach me to use chatra?” Shisui froze at the question, hand halfway through putting the toy into his holster.

“Chakra?” He repeated hesitantly. “Why?”

“Ino-chan told me that her dad is starting to teach her chakra. Shika and Chouji too. They said that most clan kids get told how to use it before going to the academy but mom and dad don't know how to use chat-chakra so could you teach me? Please?” Sakura fumbled a bit but still gave him a pleading look, her hands clasped.

Shisui rubbed the back of his neck as he tried looking around for help. Considering that there was no one around except for the both of them and her mother, it was a futile endeavor. Wait, her mother.

“I'll teach you a little bit if you could get your parents to agree.” He let out a relieved sigh at being able to find a way out but Sakura had other plans. She stood up, zoomed past him to the dining area, and he could hear her energetically asking her mom for permission.

Not even 2 minutes had passed and the tiny terror was back in front of him.

“Mama said it's okay as long as we do it in the garden! So can we go now? Let's go!” She bounced in place and tried pulling him up from his seat on the floor.

With no excuses left, he let himself be dragged out of the house and into the garden, giving a reassuring wave to her mother on their way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a b*tch to write. I suck at fighting scenes.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the small Shisui and Sakura interactions. There's more incoming in the next chapter.


	5. Chakra and Threads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura learned about chakra and maybe something else as well.

Sakura bounced in place as Shisui sat down on the soft grass. He really didn’t want to have this lesson.

“Okay, what do you know about chakra?” Best to get the basics out of the way first.

“Ummm….” Sakura paused and tilted her head, thinking of all the things Ino-chan told her, “Ninja’s use it for jutsus. And to walk on walls. And to run real fast! And… umm...”

“Alright, alright.” So he was just dealing with another Sasuke. “First lesson, everything has chakra.”

“Everything?" Her eyes widened in wonder, “Mama and Papa have chakra? And her plants? And Amaya-nee-chan’s puppy? And my ribbon?”

Shisui sighed. It was going to be one of those days, then.

“Yes, yes, yes, and no. Every living thing has chakra. Some have less and some have more. To be able to use jutsu, you need to learn to use your chakra. But to use it, you need to be able to feel it.”

Sakura nodded vigorously, sitting down when Shisui gestured for her to imitate him. However, he had to put her hands on her shoulder to stop her from vibrating in excitement.

“Calm down. First, close your eyes and try to look for the chakra in you. It should be somewhere around your stomach and feel warm, like a little fire.”

Sakura’s eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated, trying to follow the instructions. But time ticked on and she couldn’t find anything that was warm. The area around her tummy just felt like water was sloshing around, as if she drank too much juice, but also heavy like she ate too much cake.

She was about to complain when heat washed over her, but it didn’t come from inside. Instead, the heat came from Shisui, a warm fire but with a zap, just like when she touched the lightbulb before papa could turn it off. The moment she felt that, her senses suddenly became inundated with different feelings. The grass underneath her felt like little water droplets in the rain and the tree beside their house loomed like a thick mud wall that she used to build with Ino, but much higher. She could even feel her mama’s soothing, flowing energy moving inside the house.

“Don’t worry if you can’t find it.” Shisui’s comment broke her focus and she blinked rapidly to re-adjust to her surroundings. “Most people can only access their chakra after loads of practice.”

“I found it!” She celebrated, taking Shisui aback at the loud tone. “But it wasn’t warm like you said.  _ Yours _ was warm. Mine was like water.”

Impossible! No one he knew got it on their first try. Even Itachi took 2 days! It had to be a fluke. He calmed himself as he tried to explain the leaf exercise, expecting her to struggle and give him time to figure out what was happening.

To his growing apprehension, Sakura had the leaf sticking to her head on the first try, even managing to move it to stick to her finger when prompted. A chakra prodigy. Her control had to be off the charts. If anyone found out about this….

His brain stuttered to a halt when a scene of what her future would look like if her skill was discovered played in his head. His own training regimen was brutal and that was simply by virtue of being an Uchiha and having better than average skills. Itachi's own experience was nothing to write home about. If Sakura showed her potential, if it reached the ears of the village, they'd take her and transform her into something terrifying.

The vision of waking up one day and no longer seeing her bright presence and open expression  _ terrified _ him. So much so that Sakura, having just discovered chakra, could feel the change in Shisui’s energy. The fire inside him slowly boiled until the heat started overpowering the summer breeze.

“Shishi, are you okay?” She asked in a tiny voice, her mode of address going back to the nickname that only came out when she was particularly nervous.

Shisui snapped to attention and took a firm grip on his emotions, breathing in and holding it for a bit before releasing the tension in a loud exhale. He met a concerned Sakura's gaze with a reassuring smile, waving off her worries.

“I'm okay, Sakura-chan. But can you do me a favor?”

“Anything!” Sakura was willing to do anything to get Shishi to stop looking so sad.

“Don't tell anyone outside of your parents about what we just did.”

Sakura tilted her head in confusion at the sudden shift in her friend's voice.

“Not even Ino-chan? Why?”

“No one. Because this is a super secret technique that you're not supposed to know until you become a proper ninja. So I could get in trouble if you tell anyone.” Shisui inwardly prayed to all the gods he knew that she'd believe him. 

Sakura puffed up her cheeks as she pouted at her friend. But the continued solemn stare eroded her resolve. She didn't like it when the older boy acted so serious every time she wanted to talk about ninja stuff.

At Sakura's resigned acquiescence, Shisui changed his demeanor, bringing back his happy-go-lucky persona by ruffling her hair and teaching her another way to play with her chakra. As expected, she was able to successfully execute it in one try, compared to the five of his and three of Itachi's.

They spent the rest of the time getting Sakura to try out different chakra practices until the girl felt the familiar warm presence of her father coming closer. She turned to fix her gaze down the street, causing the Uchiha to do the same. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the pink star-shaped hair that was uniquely Kizashi's came into sight. The little girl quickly ran to her father, who caught her and started a tickle-fest while Shisui watched from the front porch. A natural sensor, who would have thought.

After an hour of greetings and getting his fixed shirt, most of the time waiting for Salara to finish the flower she insisted on sewing at the edge of his shirt sleeve, he bid the Harunos farewell and went back home, secretly reminding Sakura of her promise to keep their chakra lessons from other people.

Dinner at the Haruno household was a fairly peaceful affair, with Kizashi making jokes here and there and Sakura either laughing out loud or sharing her own adventures of the day.

Once the food was finished, Kizashi took the plates to the kitchen to wash while Sakura sat on the living room floor, playing with the leaf and trying to get it to stick to different parts of her body. But after a while, she just sat there quietly twirling it around. Mebuki noticed the sudden melancholy and asked her what was wrong, waiting patiently as her daughter looked down at her hands, mulling about how to articulate her thoughts.

"Mama, does Shisui and Izumi-neechan hate being ninjas?" Sakura finally asked just as Kizashi came out from the kitchen. When prompted, she went on to explain all the times the teenagers didn't want to talk about their missions or ninja stuff and that they always looked really sad about it.

The husband and wife shared a speaking look before Kizashi finished wiping his hands on the hand towel, placing it on the back of the dining chair, and coming over to lift Sakura in his arms.

"Hmm...how do I explain..." Kizashi hummed as he and Mebuki sat on the couch with the blond lightly smoothing down Sakura's hair in a soothing motion.

"Snkura-chan," Mebuki started, "Do you remember my stories about the Kingdom of Snow?" At Sakura's nod, she continued.

"Princess Hozuki is a princess because her father is the king. It means that if she becomes the queens, her children will be princes and princesses. For ninja families, it's the same. Because their parents and grandparents are ninja, they are also expected to be ninja."

"Even if they don't want to?" Sakura's voice was subdued when asking the question.

"I'm sure that they did want to be ninja." Kizashi reassured, "But sometimes, as a ninja, you have to do things you don't like. like how you have to clean your room and make your bed before you can go play. Not all missions are fun and exciting."

"But what if I don't want to do boring missions? Can't I say no?"

"Mama and I don't really know everything about ninja but I don't think you can just say no. Because once you're a ninja, the Hokage is like your boss and you have to do what they tell you."

"Oh." Sakura went quiet, lost in thought as she digested the information. But Mebuki gently consoled her, saying she could take her time to decide if she wants to be a ninja or not and that they'd support whatever she chooses. And that Sakura needed to get ready for bed if she still wanted to join her for the market visit tomorrow.

That took Sakura's focus away from the serious ninja discussion and she hurried off to prepare for bed. Amaya-neechan had promised that she could play with her pets tomorrow!

The couple on the couch shared a chuckle at their daughter's easily distracted nature, but quietly wondered if they have to start accepting the dangers their little child's future may hold.

* * *

The next day, Sakura was with her mom at the market after her play-date with Amaya. Happy with both baked treats she was given and the fluffy animals she got to play with, she followed her mom dociley as Mabuki went to buy some more cloth from the tailor.

Partway through browsing the different cute dresses on display, she felt a warm aura coming from one of the folded shirts. It was a bright yellow-green T-shirt with no patterns and designs. It didn't even feel as nice as the shirts mama used to get. But there was something about it that called to her. 

"-- that you don't have to move."

"Yes. The land of water is far too cold for... Ah! What do you have there, Sakura?"

The casual conversation was cut off when the blond saw her daughter come up to her holding a shirt.

"Can we get this?"

The tailor peered over the counter to the article the child was pushing up, her amber eyes almost hidden by the glint of her glasses. Her gaze grew thoughtful as she recognized the shirt. It was the chakra shirt. She purposefully chose the color so that no regular buyer would pick it, which was basically the Haruno's reaction upon seeing Sakura choose such a garish color.

However, the little girl kept insisting that the shirt was  _ special _ and that they should buy it for papa.

"I'm afraid that shirt isn't for sale."

Sakura looked up at the old lady who was smiling down at her, her hand pushing a needle through the bun of her greying brown hair. She let go of the shirt when the lady asked for it, watching as the gnarled but steady fingers caressed the cloth.

"I'm sorry, Tsubaki-san. I'm not sure where she picked it -" Mebuki tried to apologize but paused when Tsubaki raised a hand to stop her.

" I probably put it out by mistake." Tsubaki flipped up the door to be able to walk around towards them before inquiring. “Why did you say it was special?"

"It feels warm. Like Papa's hugs." Sakura’s arms wrapped around her torso to simulate the feeling of a hug, the kind that the warm shirt emanated.

Mebuki had looked confused at how such a thin garment could generate warmth, when the entire structure of it was most likely to keep the user  _ cool _ instead, but the corner of Tsubaki’s eyes crinkled in humor.

“This shirt isn’t for sale because it’s not just a regular shirt.” She started to explain, “I got this as a gift. It’s special like you said. It’s a very thin shirt, but it will keep the user warm because it has chakra in the cloth.”

The tailor had tilted her body to the side to pull up the shirt and re-fold it, but her lavender eyes kept glancing back at the girl and her parent, all the while running through the possibilities in her head.

“I can't sell this shirt, but I can make another one.” Tsubaki started, causing Sakura's dejected face to turn up in hope. “ _ But _ it will take time since we have to start from scratch. And I'll need your help.”

She crouched down to face Sakura's questioning expression and explained. Tsubaki knew how to make chakra threads, but it took time and her control was not as good. Sakura being able to sense the chakra in the cloth meant that the young girl had the control to make threads that would have a stronger effect. And since her mother mentioned that Sakura loved crafting now, she could also teach her how to make the clothes one by one.

While Sakura was busy digesting the information, Tsubaki rose up and chatted with Mebuki. As expected, Mebuki wasn't really sure about Sakura playing with chakra but it was explained that a lot of the things she could teach was mainly about tailoring. The only part about chakra was imbuing the threads and that, while time consuming, was fairly safe.

“Why don't we try it for a week and see if it will maintain her interest?” Tsubaki proposed casually. “Children usually find other things to fixate on once they realize how mundane these things are. You can think of this as me babysitting her for an hour a day while you do your errands.”

By the time the adults finished their discussion, Sakura was tugging on her mother's hand and asking if she could learn and that she  _ won't _ get bored and she'd make clothes for papa before Christmas.

With that said, Mebuki and Tsubaki agreed to let Sakura come around for a short period and see where it would go, Sakura waving back enthusiastically as they left the small shop.

“See you tomorrow!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a struggle to write. But it's here!  
> Enjoy baby Sakura.
> 
> The next chapter will most likely focus on the effects these inconsequential acts have on the Naruto world. Maybe.


End file.
